In the world of football, we often see players return to former clubs. These transfers tend not to work out in many cases, but that is usually because the players are quite often beyond their best by the time they come back.
There is now a developing trend where clubs sign players who were once part of their youth setup and went on to establish themselves at other clubs. Paul Pogba is most famous example, returning to Manchester United for a then world record transfer fee having move to Juventus for next to nothing.
It now appears that Arsenal are hoping to pull off a similar deal.
The Mirror are reporting that the Premier League side are interested in signing PSV forward Donyell Malen, who is rated at around £50million. He is a player they are very familiar with, having once been part of the club's youth academy.
In fact, they sold him only two years ago for a fee of £500,000. They could now re-sign him for 100 times that amount. Not a great way to do business.
The 20-year old has been in stunning form to start this season, scoring 11 goals in 13 matches. That includes a five goal performance against Vitesse Arnhem, the first Eredivisie player to score five in one game in 35 years. He also recently made his debut for the Dutch national team.
Malen moved from Ajax to Arsenal when he was 16-years old, but never made a first team breakthrough. He left the club in 2017 in search of first team football.
It now appears Arsenal made a huge mistake in allowing him to leave, with every major club in Europe tracking his development.
